Boost Biomes announces close of Series A and co-development agreement with lead investor, Yara International, for biostimulants products

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. and OSLO, Norway, June 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- US-based food and agriculture biotech startup Boost Biomes and global crop nutrition company, Yara International ASA, announced today the close of Boost's USD 5 million series A equity round as well as a joint development agreement between the two companies. Yara's investment amounts to USD 3 million. Existing investors, including Viking Global Investors and Y Combinator, participated in the close.

With this partnership in place, Boost and Yara will expand current efforts to co-develop a new product to enhance crops' rate of nutrient uptake from the soil enabling farmers to increase yields with fewer inputs, saving cost and reducing environmental impact.

Boost will use the new funding to continue to develop its leading biofungicide product, and will further develop its product pipeline and technology platform, including products that may include novel antibiologicals, improve nutrient utilization, improve other measures of crop growth and health, and products that extend the shelf-life of produce.

Jamie Bacher, Boost Biomes' CEO and cofounder, said, "We are putting Boost's platform technology to work.  Yara's evaluation of our technology, and our resulting joint program, further validates that our platform generates a unique data set that can be exploited for many diverse microbiome applications in food and agriculture.  While Boost develops products internally, we are also ready to work with partners on novel microbiome applications.  We look forward to working closely with the team at Yara to develop novel products for farmers, to address their most pressing challenges."

"We are excited to collaborate with, and invest in, Boost Biomes as part of Yara's focus on innovative microbial approaches within our crop nutrition solutions. A key priority for farmers is efficient and effective use of fertilizers. Boost's technology has the promise to unlock new means to enhance crops' nutrient uptake. This partnership underlines Yara's commitment to further developing our biostimulants product range under the BIOTRYG platform as part of our strategy to promote sustainable farming practices," said Joacim Christiansen, SVP, Yara Farming Solutions.

Boost technology enables an advanced understanding of microbial interactions, which Boost uses to engineer novel microbial products that expand the range options to improve crop yield and quality.   

Furthermore, Boost is using its technology to develop products that prevent post-harvest diseases and improve produce safety.

About Boost Biomes, Inc.

Boost Biomes is developing new products to address critical needs in food and agriculture, to increase crop yields and reduce post-harvest waste.  Underlying the products is a proprietary microbiome technology platform that enables Boost a unique understanding of interactions within microbiomes, leading to superior products that are effective, safe, organic and natural.  For more information, visit http://boostbiomes.com/

About Yara

Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Supporting our vision of a world without hunger, we pursue a strategy of sustainable value growth, promoting climate-friendly and high-yielding crop nutrition solutions for the world's farming community and food industry. Yara's ambition is to be the Crop Nutrition Company for the Future. We are committed to creating value for our customers, shareholders and society at large, as we work to develop a more sustainable food value chain. To achieve our ambition, we have taken the lead in developing digital farming tools for precision farming, and work closely with partners throughout the food value chain to improve the efficiency and sustainability of agriculture and food production. Founded in 1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has established a unique position as the industry's only global crop nutrition company. With our integrated business model and a worldwide presence of around 16,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries, we offer a proven track record of responsible and reliable returns. In 2019, Yara reported revenues of USD 12.9 billion. www.yara.com

For more information, please contact:

Boost Biomes: Julie Rice, Director of Operations

E-mail: [email protected]

Yara International: Erkki Aaltonen, Director of Venture Investments

Phone: +358400736783 , E-mail: [email protected]

Yara International media contact: Josiane Kremer, Director External Communications

Phone: +47 48180451, E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Boost Biomes